Recurring money transfer

ABSTRACT

A system and method of performing a value-advance money transfer comprising: receiving a money transfer request; determining whether an account associated with a sender of funds includes a sufficient amount of funds to cover a money transfer request; providing an amount of funds from a money transfer provider to the account associated with the sender to cover the money transfer request; making the amount of funds available to the sender for use in the money transfer; and executing a money transfer from the account to the control of the receiver.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/848,709, filed Aug. 2, 2010, and entitled, “RECURRING MONEYTRANSFER,” issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,660,923, the entire disclosure ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference, for all purposes, as if fullyset forth herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Individuals may engage in money transfers for various purposes, such aspaying bills, helping family or friends, etc. These money transfers maybe made on a regular basis, such as monthly money transfers to familymembers to help pay bills. On occasion, an individual that regularlyengages in money transfers may not be able to fund a particular moneytransfer, but may be able fund the money transfer at a later point intime. On the receiving end, some individuals may rely on money transfersto pay bills and/or to provide for other necessities. A money transferthat cannot be completed due to insufficient funds may result in one ormore bills not being paid and/or other necessities not being met. Inaddition, missed bill payments may result in late charges and/or feesbeing applied to the bill, which may increase the difficulty of payingthe bill.

In addition, making repeated money transfers often requires the senderto visit a money transfer provider's location, either physically orremotely, in order to initiate the money transfer. Due to time and/orgeographical constraints, regularly visiting a money transfer provider'slocation may place a significant burden on the sender.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods thatallow a sender to transfer money without providing funds for the moneytransfer upfront (i.e., at the time of the money transfer). According toone embodiment, a method of performing a money transfer may occur at amoney transfer provider and may include determining that a sender iseligible to participate in a value-advance money transfer program basedon the evaluation of one or more conditions. The one or more conditionsmay include: a registration request from the sender to participate inthe value-advance money transfer program, a history of money transferusing the money transfer provider, a payment of one or more fees, acredit score, a loyalty member status, etc.

In addition, determining that the sender is eligible may includeestablishing one or more criterion to judge the sender's history ofmoney transfers, applying the one or more criterion to the sender, andevaluating the money transfer history of the sender. The value-advancemoney transfer program may allow the sender to make a money transferregardless of if the sender provides funds for the money transfer.

The method may also include registering the sender in the value-advancemoney transfer program and may include creating an account associatedwith the sender (i.e., sender's account). The method may further includereceiving a money transfer request to provide a first amount of fundsfor a receiver and may additionally include determining whether thesender's account includes a sufficient amount of funds to cover thetransfer request. If the account includes an insufficient amount offunds, the method may additionally include providing a second amount offunds from the money transfer provider to the sender's account to coverthe money transfer request. The method may additionally include makingthe second amount of funds available to the sender for use in the moneytransfer and may include executing a money transfer from the sender'saccount to the control of the receiver.

In addition, the method of performing a money transfer may furtherinclude receiving at least one payment of funds from the sender thatpartially covers the money transfer amount and associating the paymentof funds with the sender's account. A portion of the payment may bewithheld by the money transfer provider in exchange for assurance thatthe second amount of funds will be provided to the sender's account whena future money transfer is insufficiently funded.

Further, the method of performing a money transfer may include providingan identifier to the sender and, subsequent to providing the identifier,receiving information associated with the identifier from the sender.The identifier may be configured to limit an eligible pool of receiversto a predetermined group selected by the sender and/or provide thesender with access to the value-advance money transfer program. Theidentifier may be associated with a plurality of receivers so that whenthe identifier is used (i.e., identifier information is received by themoney transfer provider), the money transfer is limited to the pluralityof receivers.

The value-advance money transfer program may be an upgrade to thesender's pre-existing money transfer loyalty card program. Receiving thetransfer request may include receiving a money transfer schedule fromthe sender that defines a plurality of money transfers to be made over aspecified period of time. When the transfer request include a moneytransfer schedule, the step of determining whether the account includesa sufficient amount of funds may be performed for each of the pluralityof money transfers so that the second amount of funds may be provided tothe sender's account when any of the plurality of money transfers areinsufficiently funded.

The method of performing a money transfer may additionally includeestablishing a money transfer schedule that defines a plurality of moneytransfers to be made over a specified period of time, providing termsfor the money transfer schedule to the sender, and receiving anacceptance from the sender as to the terms of the money transferschedule. The terms for the money transfer schedule may provide that afee, an interest rate, and/or an exchange rate used during the specifiedtime will not change. In addition, the money transfer schedule mayfurther define a plurality of payments to be made by the sender over thespecified period of time so that by the end of the specified period oftime, the sender provides some or all of the funds required for theplurality of money transfers. Similarly, the step of determining whetherthe account includes a sufficient amount of funds may be performed foreach of the plurality of money transfers to determine if the sender'saccount is sufficiently funded from one or more of the plurality ofpayments and, therefore, whether the second amount of funds needs to beprovided for any of the plurality of money transfers. Alternatively oradditionally, the execution of the money transfer may be conditioned onthe receiver complying with one or more rules provided by the sender.

In one embodiment of the method, the money transfer request may bereceived from the receiver and the second amount of funds may beprovided based on the money transfer request from the receiver (i.e.,instead of or in addition to being based on a request from the sender).Additionally, the money transfer request from the receiver may be afirst money transfer request and the sender associated with the firstmoney transfer request may be a first sender. The method may furtherinclude receiving a second money transfer request from the receiver thatidentifies a second sender. Based on the second money transfer request,a third amount of funds may be provided from the money transfer providerto an account that is associated with the second sender. The thirdamount of funds may be used to repay the first sender at least a portionof the amount of funds used in the money transfer between the firstsender and the receiver (i.e., the receiver may direct that funds beprovided to a second sender and/or that the funds of the second senderbe used to repay the first sender). The receiver may be allowed torequest the money transfer based on a history of money transfers betweenthe sender and the receiver.

Alternatively or additionally, the sender can be repaid at least aportion of the money transfer amount directly from an account associatewith the receiver (i.e., the receiver's account). For example, a methodof repaying the sender may include associating an account with thereceiver (receiver's account) and removing an amount of funds from thereceiver's account. The amount of funds removed from the receiver'saccount may include at least a portion of the money transfer amount. Themethod may further include providing the amount of funds from thereceiver's account to the sender's account to repay the sender for atleast a portion of the money transfer amount.

The money transfer request from the receiver may be conditioned on oneor more rules provided by the sender (e.g., the sender may provide oneor more rules before the receiver's request is received that limit thereceiver's request). The one or more rules may direct or instruct themoney transfer provider on how to repay the sender. For example, therules may direct the money transfer provider to provide a third amountof funds to the sender's account from an account of another sender thatis associated with the receiver and/or from the receiver's account torepay the sender at least a portion of the money transfer amount.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a method ofperforming a money transfer may include receiving a money transferschedule from the sender that defines a plurality of money transfers tobe made over a specified period of time to at least one receiver. Themethod may also include receiving at least one payment of funds from thesender and associating the payment of funds with the sender's account.The method may further include determining whether to perform one of theplurality of money transfers based on the money transfer schedule. Themethod may additionally include executing a money transfer to transferat least a portion of the funds from the account to the receiver. Themoney transfer provider may make each of the plurality of moneytransfers according to the money transfer schedule regardless of if theaccount is funded prior to each money transfer.

The method may additionally include providing a plurality of transfernumbers to the sender where each of the plurality of transfer numberscorrespond with one or more of the plurality of money transfers. Receiptof any one of the plurality of transfer numbers at the money transferprovider may indicate that funds are to be transferred from the sender'saccount (i.e., receipt of one of the transfer numbers may trigger amoney transfer corresponding to that transfer number; the money transfermay have pre-designated transfer amounts and receiver information). Themethod may additionally include receiving one or more of the pluralityof transfer numbers at the money transfer provider. Upon receipt of anyone of the transfer numbers, a predetermined amount of funds may betransferred from the account to one or more predetermined receivers.

In some embodiments the sender may make one or more payments to fund oneor more of the plurality of money transfers. The value of one or morepayments may exceed the value of a corresponding money transfer ortransfers (i.e., the sender may provide more funds than are required forthe next money transfer or next several transfers). The excess funds maybe kept in the sender's account so that the funds can be used in afuture underfunded money transfer. The excess funds may continue toaccumulate in the sender's account. In some embodiment, the sender maymake a single payment of funds that covers all of the plurality of moneytransfer over the specified period of time. In such an embodiment, themoney transfer schedule may define one or more portions of the paymentof funds to apply to each of the plurality of money transfers. And themoney transfer provider may apply a portion or portions of the paymentof funds to each of the plurality of money transfers in accordance withthe money transfer schedule.

According to another embodiment, the present invention may include amethod of funding a receiver associated with a recurring money transfer.The method may include receiving a request at a money transfer providerfrom the receiver to provide a first amount of funds for the receiver.The method may also include providing the first amount of funds to thereceiver from the money transfer provider. The first amount of funds maybe provided based on a history of money transfers between the receiverand a sender. The method may further include receiving an instruction atthe money transfer provider from the receiver to withhold at least aportion of a second amount of funds provided by the sender in a moneytransfer between the sender and the receiver, where the second amount offunds may be used to repay the first amount of funds provided by themoney transfer provider.

The method of funding a receiver may additionally include receiving thesecond amount of funds from the sender, withholding the specifiedportion of the second amount of funds in accordance with the instructionfrom the receiver, and applying the withheld portion of the secondamount of funds toward repaying the first amount of funds. In addition,the method of funding a receiver may additionally include receiving anadditional instruction from the receiver to withhold a portion of athird amount of funds provided by an additional sender (i.e., generallynot the same sender) in a money transfer between the additional senderand the receiver, where the portion of the third amount of funds iscombined with the portion of the second amount of funds to repay some orall of the first amount of funds provided by the money transferprovider. Likewise, the instruction and/or the additional instructionmay direct the money transfer provider to withhold a certain amount offunds from each of a plurality of future money transfers until the firstamount of funds has been fully repaid.

According to another embodiment, the present invention may include amethod of providing a credit indicator based on one or more moneytransfer patterns. The method may include receiving a money transferschedule from a sender that defines a plurality of money transfers to bemade over a specified period of time. The method may also includereceiving funds from the sender over the specified period of time tofund the plurality of money transfers. The method may further includeevaluating the performance of the sender in providing funds for themoney transfers according to the money transfer schedule and determininga credit indicator based on the evaluation.

The money transfer schedule may further define a payment schedule thatindicates when the funds are to be received from the sender (i.e.,provides one or more dates that the funds are to be received by).Additionally, the evaluation may include evaluating when the funds arereceived from the sender against the payment schedule. The method mayadditionally include providing credit to the sender based on the creditindicator.

The method may additionally include providing funds to an accountassociated with the sender when any one of the plurality of moneytransfers is insufficiently funded, evaluating the repayment of theprovided funds by the sender, and determining a credit indicator basedon the repayment of the provided funds in addition to the performance ofthe sender in providing money for the money transfers.

The method may additionally include providing the credit indicator toone or more entities (e.g., a bank, credit bureau, etc.). The creditindicator may be provided to one or more entities to establish credit ortrust between the entity and the sender, for marketing purposes, and/orfor cross selling other products and/or services. In addition, the moneytransfer schedule may be based on paying one or more bills.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for performingvalue-advance money transfers according to embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is another block diagram illustrating a system for performingvalue-advance money transfers according to embodiments of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is still another block diagram illustrating a system forperforming value-advance money transfers according to embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is still another block diagram illustrating a system forperforming value-advance money transfers according to embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 is still another block diagram illustrating a system forperforming value-advance money transfers according to embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a computer that is capable ofperforming the methods and operations of systems according theembodiments of the invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a process of enrolling a sender and/or receiver in avalue-advance money transfer program according to embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a process of performing a value-advance moneytransfer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates another process of performing a value-advance moneytransfer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 illustrates another process of performing a value-advance moneytransfer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates a process of performing a value-advance moneytransfer in which the receiver provides the money transfer request inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates a process of advancing funds to a receiver in whichthe sender may not be registered in a value-advance money transferprogram according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 illustrates a process for providing a credit indicator based ona money transfer pattern according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 14 illustrates another process for providing a credit indicatorbased on a money transfer pattern according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of various embodiments of the present invention. It willbe apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that embodiments of thepresent invention may be practiced without some of these specificdetails. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shownin block diagram form.

The ensuing description provides exemplary embodiments only, and is notintended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of thedisclosure. Rather, the ensuing description of the exemplary embodimentswill provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description forimplementing an exemplary embodiment. It should be understood thatvarious changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elementswithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as setforth in the appended claims.

Specific details are given in the following description to provide athorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will beunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments maybe practiced without these specific details. For example, circuits,systems, networks, processes, and other components may be shown ascomponents in block diagram form in order not to obscure the embodimentsin unnecessary detail. In other instances, well-known circuits,processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques may be shown withoutunnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments.

Also, it is noted that individual embodiments may be described as aprocess which is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flowdiagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchartmay describe the operations as a sequential process, many of theoperations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition,the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process is terminatedwhen its operations are completed, but could have additional steps notincluded in a figure. A process may correspond to a method, a function,a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a process correspondsto a function, its termination can correspond to a return of thefunction to the calling function or the main function.

The term “machine-readable medium” includes, but is not limited toportable or fixed storage devices, optical storage devices, wirelesschannels and various other mediums capable of storing, containing orcarrying instruction(s) and/or data. A code segment ormachine-executable instructions may represent a procedure, a function, asubprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine, a module, a softwarepackage, a class, or any combination of instructions, data structures,or program statements. A code segment may be coupled to another codesegment or a hardware circuit by passing and/or receiving information,data, arguments, parameters, or memory contents. Information, arguments,parameters, data, etc. may be passed, forwarded, or transmitted via anysuitable means including memory sharing, message passing, token passing,network transmission, etc.

Furthermore, embodiments may be implemented by hardware, software,firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or anycombination thereof. When implemented in software, firmware, middlewareor microcode, the program code or code segments to perform the necessarytasks may be stored in a machine-readable medium. A processor(s) mayperform the necessary tasks.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods thatallow a sender to transfer money without providing funds upfront (or atthe time of the money transfer). For example, individuals often transfermoney for various purposes, such as paying bills, helping family and/orfriends, etc. Sometimes individuals make money transfers on a regularbasis, such as transferring money to family on a monthly or bi-monthlybasis. In addition, some individuals that regularly make money transfersmay not receive funds on a predictable basis. For example, contractemployees may receive compensation only upon meeting project milestonesor goals instead of receiving compensation on a weekly or bi-monthlybasis. Sometimes the combination of receiving compensation on aunpredictable schedule while regularly making money transfers willresult in the sender not having sufficient capital to fund for one ormore money transfers, although the sender may be capable of funding themoney transfer at a later point in time.

Furthermore, making repeated money transfers often requires the senderto visit a money transfer provider's location, either physically orremotely, in order to initiate the money transfer. Due to time and/orgeographical constraints, regularly visiting a money transfer provider'slocation may place a significant burden on the sender (e.g., due to workand/or travel, a sender may not be able to visit a physical location ofa money transfer provider or may not have access to services that allowthe sender to remotely access a money transfer provider's website).

On the receiving end, some individuals may rely on money transfers topay bills and/or to provide for other necessities. For example, in somesituations a family member may transfer money to a spouse or parents topay bills and/or pay for other necessities (e.g., food, clothing, etc.).A money transfer that cannot be completed due to insufficient funds mayresult in one or more bills not being paid and/or other necessities notbeing provided for. Missing bill payments may result in the addition oflate charges and/or other fees, which may increase the difficulty ofpaying the bill for the receiver and/or sender. Senders may be hesitantabout borrowing money in order to fund a money transfer due to timeconstraints, excessive fees, and/or excessive interest rates, lack ofcollateral, etc.

In some embodiments of the present invention, to minimize or eliminatethe impact of insufficiently funded money transfers, a money transferprovider may provide one or more services to senders and/or receiversthat allow for the money transfer provider to occasionally advance fundsto a sender and/or receiver to cover an insufficiently funded moneytransfer. In one embodiment, the service may require the sender and/orreceiver to pay back the advanced funds. In other embodiments, the moneytransfer provider may charge one or more fees to allow a futureinsufficiently funded money transfer to be covered up to a certainamount without requiring the sender to payback the advanced funds. Instill other embodiments, the sender may provide funds in excess of whatis required to fund one or more money transfers; the excess may be keptin an account associated with the sender to help fund an insufficientlyfunded money transfer in the future.

In some instances, a sender and/or receiver may use the same moneytransfer provider to regularly make money transfers. Similarly, thesender may regularly transfer money to the same receiver or to the samegroup of receivers. In such instances, based on regular and repeatedbusiness, the money transfer provider may develop confidence or trust ina sender's ability to fund money transfers and/or may develop confidenceand/or trust in the receiver. The money transfer provider may offer thevalue-advance money transfer program to a sender and/or receiver basedon this level of developed trust or confidence. In other embodiments,the money transfer provider may use one or more conditions to determinewhether the money transfer provider has confidence or trust in thesender and/or receiver in order to offer the value-advance moneytransfer program to the sender and/or receiver.

Similarly, in some embodiments, to minimize the necessity of visiting amoney transfer provider's location, either physically or remotely, themoney transfer provider may permit the sender to pay funds up front fora plurality of future money transfers. The money transfer provider mayprovide the sender with one or more identifiers (e.g., transfer numbers)that each correspond with a particular one of the plurality of moneytransfers so that upon providing any one of the identifiers to the moneytransfer provider, a value-advance money transfer is initiated. In someembodiments, the sender may provide a money transfer schedule to themoney transfer provider that defines how and when each, or at leastsome, of the plurality of money transfers is to be made. In this manner,the money transfer provider may initiate a money transfer withoutrequiring the sender to visit the money transfer provider's location.Some of the features of the present invention have thus been described.In connection with the description of the figures below, many otherfeatures of the invention will be realized.

Attention is now directed to FIG. 1, which illustrates a system 100 forperforming value-advance money transfers from a sender 102 to a receiversuch as by transferring funds from a sender's source of funds 140 to areceiver fund destination 150. A value-advance money transfer may be anymoney transfer where the funds for the money transfer are provided by anentity and/or individual other than the sender. The receiver funddestination may include a variety of physical destinations for thefunds, such as a bank account, a credit card account, a prepaid valueaccount, general spend type accounts (e.g., PayPal® or Amazon® account),etc., or may include providing the funds directly to the receiver intangible form, such as a check, cash, air miles, gift certificate, etc.The system may comprise a money transfer provider 110, which may be anyentity that performs and/or provides money transfer services such as,for example, Western Union.

The money transfer provider 110 may be communicatively coupled with acredit program facilitator 120. The credit program facilitator may beany entity that deals with and/or handles money and/or credit, such as abank, a credit card provider, a credit union, etc. In some embodiments,the credit program facilitator 120 may be the same entity as the moneytransfer provider 110. In embodiments where the credit programfacilitator 120 is an entity other than the money transfer provider 110,the credit program facilitator 120 may provide the funds that areadvanced to the sender or receiver, while the money transfer provider110 provides the infrastructure (e.g., devices, software, transferlocations, agents, etc.) to handle and perform the value-advance moneytransfer. For example, in some embodiments, while the money transferprovider 110 provides the infrastructure to perform a value-advancemoney transfer, the credit program facilitator 120 provides one or moreaccounts upon which the money transfer provider may draw funds toadvance in the value-advance money transfer process. Similarly, thecredit program facilitator 120 may establish and/or maintain one or moreaccounts associated with either or both of the sender 102 and thereceiver (not shown).

Similarly, the money transfer provider 110 may be communicativelycoupled with one or more communication devices to communicate with thesender 102. The one or more communication devices may include theInternet 112 a, an interactive voice response device (IVR) 112 b, anagent 112 c of the money transfer provider 110, a mobile device 112 d,etc., through which one or more inputs may be provided from the sender102 to the money transfer provider 110, and through which one or moreoutputs may be provided from the money transfer provider 110 to thesender 102. For example, through one of the communication devices, suchas the Internet 112 a, the sender 102 can provide instructions and/orinformation to the money transfer provider 110 and receive instructionsand/or information from the money transfer provider 110. For example,the sender 102 may register for a value-advance money transfer programoffered by the money transfer provider 110 by communicating through oneof the communication devices (e.g., an agent 112 c of the money transferprovider) and providing any necessary information via the communicationdevice. Additionally, after registering in a value-advance moneytransfer program, the sender 102 may perform one or more value-advancemoney transfers by requesting, via the communication device (e.g., theInternet 112 a), that the value-advance money transfer be performed.

The money transfer provider 110 may include and/or otherwise utilize oneor more hardware and/or software components and/or applications (e.g.,server, computer, etc.) to perform the functions and/or processes of thevalue-advance money transfer. The hardware and/or software may includeone or more communication interfaces 108 configured to facilitatecommunication between the money transfer provider 110 and any otherperson and/or entity such as the sender 102 and the credit programfacilitator 120. The hardware and/or software may also include one ormore processors 106 configured to process and/or execute a variety ofinstructions and/or program codes to perform the value-advance moneytransfer. The instructions and/or program code can be embodied on one ormore memory devices 107 as described with reference to FIG. 6 below (e.gROM, RAM, etc.). Although the memory device 107 and processor 106 areshown in FIG. 1 as being internal to the money transfer provider 110,the memory device 107 and/or processor 106 may also by external to themoney transfer provider 110 such as by residing on one or more computersthat are communicatively coupled to the money transfer provider 110. Inaddition, the memory device 107 and processor 106 may be located at thecredit program facilitator 120.

The money transfer provider 110 may also be communicatively coupled to arules database 114 that includes one or more rules that facilitate indirecting or controlling the value-advance money transfer. The one ormore rules may be provided by the sender 102, the receiver (not shown),and/or the money transfer provider 110. In addition, the rules databasemay be internal to the money transfer provider 110 or external to themoney transfer provider 110 as shown in FIG. 1.

In some embodiments, the credit program facilitator 120 may becommunicatively coupled to a financial transfer network 130 tofacilitate a transfer of funds from the sender's source of funds 140 tothe receiver fund destination 150 as previously described. In otherembodiments, the money transfer provider 110 may be communicativelycoupled to the financial transfer network 130 to facilitate the transferof funds.

FIG. 2 illustrates another system 200 for performing a value-advancemoney transfer. System 200 is similar to system 100 in that it includesa money transfer provider 210 that communicates with a sender 202 and/orreceiver (not shown) to transfer money to the receiver. Money transferprovider 210 may utilize a processor 206, memory 207, communicationinterface 208, and rules database 214 as previously described.

The system 200 shows the money transfer provider 210 beingcommunicatively coupled with a financial transfer network 230 withoutbeing communicatively coupled with the credit program facilitator 120.In system 200, the credit program facilitator 120 may be the same entityas the money transfer provider 210. Similarly, the sender 202 may havean account 245 that is established and/or maintained by the moneytransfer provider 210 so that funds provided by the sender 202 and/oradvanced by the money transfer provider 210 for the sender may bemaintained in the account 245.

The money transfer provider 210 may be communicatively coupled to thefinancial transfer network 230 to facilitate the transfer of funds fromthe sender's account 245 to the receiver fund destination 250 aspreviously described. Although the receiver fund destination 250 isshown as being maintained by an entity other than the money transferprovider 210, the receiver fund destination 250 may also be maintainedby the money transfer provider 210 similar to the sender's account 245as described with reference to FIG. 5.

FIG. 3 illustrates another system 300 for performing a value-advancemoney transfers. The system 300 is similar to system 200 previouslydescribed except that the financial transfer network 330 is shown asbeing communicatively coupled with a plurality or group of receivers(i.e., receiver #1 350 a, receiver #2 350 b, and receiver #3 350 c). Inthis manner, the sender 302 may initiate a value-advance money transferto send funds to any or a combination of the plurality or group ofreceivers 350 a-350 c. In some embodiments, the plurality or group ofreceivers 350 a-350 c may be predetermined and/or limited by the sender302 so that when using the value-advance money transfer program, thefunds are restricted to being transferable to the plurality or group ofreceivers only.

Restricting the transferability of funds to the plurality or group ofreceivers 350 a-350 c adds security to the value-advance money transferprogram because it discourages theft or misappropriation of a sender'svalue-advance money transfer information. For example, restricting thetransferability to the plurality or group of receivers 350 a-350 c doesnot allow an individual who has stolen a sender's information to make avalue-advance money transfer to himself or herself on the sender'saccount unless that individual is within the group of receivers 350a-350 c. Because the individuals within the plurality or group ofreceivers 350 a-350 c are often the beneficiaries of regular andreoccurring money transfers, they are unlikely to steal ormisappropriate the sender's information. In addition, the sender 302 maybe provided with an identifier associated with the value-advance moneytransfer program. To perform a value-advance money transfer, the sendermay be required to provide the identifier to the money transfer provider310. The identifier may be configured so that, upon presentation to themoney transfer provider, the money transfer provider is alerted to thefact that the transferability is restricted to the plurality or group ofreceivers 350 a-350 c.

In other embodiments, the plurality or group of receivers 350 a-350 c isnot restricted to a predetermined group of receivers and/or the senderis able to add additional receivers to the plurality or group ofreceivers 350 a-350 c. Similarly, the value-advance money transferprogram may be configured to allow receivers to request that the senderinclude them in the plurality or group of receivers 350 a-350 c. In anycase, the sender may transfer funds to any or a combination of theplurality or group of receivers 350 a-350 c. For example, the sender mayselect to transfer funds to receiver #2 350 b and receiver #3 350 c orthe sender may select to transfer funds to receiver #1 350 a only. Inaddition, FIG. 3 shows the sender's account being maintained by themoney transfer provider 310. In some embodiments, the sender's accountmay be maintained by an entity other than the money transfer provider310 as described with reference to FIG. 1 and/or any or all of the groupof receivers may have accounts maintained by the money transfer provider310.

FIG. 4 illustrates another system 400 for performing value-advance moneytransfers. The system 400 of FIG. 4 is similar to systems 100-300described in FIGS. 1-3 respectively, except that the money transferprovider 410 is shown as being communicatively coupled to communicationdevices 412 a-412 d so that a receiver 403 may request and/or initiate avalue-advance money transfer and thereby transfer funds from a sender'ssource of funds 440 to a fund destination 450 of the receiver. In thismanner, the receiver may participate in the value-advance money transferprogram.

For example, in some embodiments both the sender (not shown but seeFIGS. 1-3) and the receiver 403 are enrolled or otherwise participate inthe value-advance money transfer program. In other embodiments, thereceiver 403 only may be enrolled or otherwise participate in thevalue-advance money transfer program. Embodiments in which the receiver403 may request and/or initiate a value-advance money transfer andthereby participate in the value-advance money transfer program aredescribed in more detail with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12.

In addition, in some embodiments, the money transfer provider 410 mayutilize a credit facilitator application 420 that may perform the samefunctions as the credit program facilitator described in FIG. 1. Inother embodiments, the money transfer provider 410 may becommunicatively coupled to a credit program facilitator as described inFIG. 1.

FIG. 5 illustrates another system 500 for performing value-advance moneytransfers. The system 500 is similar to system 400 in that the moneytransfer provider 510 is communicatively coupled to communicationdevices 512 a-512 d so that a receiver 503 may communicate with themoney transfer provider 510 and thereby request and/or initiate avalue-advance money transfer.

The system 500 also shows the money transfer provider 510 maintainingand/or controlling several accounts for the sender 545, the receiver550, and one or more other parties 547. With such an arrangement, fundsmay be transferred between any of the accounts in connection with avalue-advance money transfer as described in more detail below (e.g.,funding a money transfer and/or repaying advanced funds). For example,in some embodiments, funds may be advanced to the sender's account 545from the money transfer provider 510 so that a value-advance moneytransfer is funded. In such situations, the sender usually is requiredto repay the advanced funds. To facilitate repayment, funds may betransferred to the sender's account 545 from the receiver's account 550and/or from one or more other parties' accounts 547. In otherembodiments, the funds may be advanced to the sender's account 545 fromone or more other parties' accounts 547 or from a pool of accounts (notshown) to fund the value-advance money transfer.

Further, the transfer of funds from one or more accounts to repay anyadvanced funds may occur in accordance with one or more rules maintainedin the rules database 514, which rules may be provided by any or acombination of the sender (not shown), the receiver 503, and the moneytransfer provider 510. In addition, any or a combination of the senders'account 545, the receiver's account 550, and the other party account 547may be maintained or controlled by an entity other than the moneytransfer provider 510.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system upon whichembodiments of the present invention may be implemented. This exampleillustrates a computer system 600 such as may be used, in whole, inpart, or with various modifications, to provide the functions of themoney transfer provider 110-510, the credit program facilitator 120and/or credit program application 420 and 520, the communicationinterface 108-508, the processor 106-506, the memory device 107-507,and/or other components of the invention such as those discussed above.

The computer system 600 is shown comprising hardware elements that maybe electrically coupled via a bus 690. The hardware elements may includeone or more central processing units 610, one or more input devices 620(e.g., a mouse, a keyboard, etc.), and one or more output devices 630(e.g., a display device, a printer, etc.). The computer system 600 mayalso include one or more storage devices 640. By way of example, storagedevice(s) 640 may be disk drives, optical storage devices, solid-statestorage device such as a random access memory (“RAM”) and/or a read-onlymemory (“ROM”), which can be programmable, flash-updateable and/or thelike.

The computer system 600 may additionally include a computer-readablestorage media reader 650, a communications system 660 (e.g., a modem, anetwork card (wireless or wired), an infra-red communication device,Bluetooth™ device, cellular communication device, etc.), and workingmemory 680, which may include RAM and ROM devices as described above. Insome embodiments, the computer system 600 may also include a processingacceleration unit 670, which can include a digital signal processor, aspecial-purpose processor and/or the like.

The computer-readable storage media reader 650 can further be connectedto a computer-readable storage medium, together (and, optionally, incombination with storage device(s) 640) comprehensively representingremote, local, fixed, and/or removable storage devices plus storagemedia for temporarily and/or more permanently containingcomputer-readable information. The communications system 660 may permitdata to be exchanged with a network, system, computer and/or othercomponent described above.

The computer system 600 may also comprise software elements, shown asbeing currently located within a working memory 680, including anoperating system 684 and/or other code 688. It should be appreciatedthat alternate embodiments of a computer system 600 may have numerousvariations from that described above. For example, customized hardwaremight also be used and/or particular elements might be implemented inhardware, software (including portable software, such as applets), orboth. Furthermore, connection to other computing devices such as networkinput/output and data acquisition devices may also occur.

Software of computer system 600 may include code 688 for implementingany or all of the function of the various elements of the architectureas described herein. For example, software, stored on and/or executed bya computer system such as system 600, can provide the functions of themoney transfer provider 110-510, the credit program facilitator 120and/or credit program application 420 and 520, the communicationinterface 108-508, the processor 106-506, the memory device 107-507,and/or other components of the invention such as those discussed above.

FIG. 7 illustrates a process of registering or enrolling a sender in avalue-advance money transfer program. The value-advance money transferprogram allows the sender and/or receiver to make a money transferregardless of whether the sender has funded the money transfer. Forexample, in some instances, due to an unpredictable pay schedule, etc.,the sender may be temporarily unable to fund the money transfer. Inthose instances, funds may be advanced to the sender from the moneytransfer provider, a credit program facilitator, another party accountmaintained by the money transfer provider, etc., to facilitate infunding the money transfer. Often, the sender will be required to repaythe advanced funds, although in some embodiments, repayment is not berequired.

In some embodiments, the process begins with a money transfer providerreceiving a registration request (block 705) from the sender and/orreceiver that desires to register in the value-advance money transferprogram. The registration request may be received over one of thecommunication devices (e.g., 112 a-112 d). In other embodiments, themoney transfer provider may extend an invitation to the sender and/orreceiver to register in and/or participate in the value-advance moneytransfer program without receiving a registration request.

At block 710, the money transfer provider determines whether a senderand/or receiver is eligible to participate in the value-advance moneytransfer program. The determination may be based on one or moreconditions. For example, the determination may be made on one or more ofthe following conditions: a registration request from the sender toparticipate in the value-advance money transfer program, a history ofmoney transfers using the money transfer provider, a payment of one ormore fees to participate in the value-advance money transfer program, acredit score, a loyalty member status, etc. In embodiments where thesender and/or receiver request registration to participate in thevalue-advance money transfer program, the money transfer provider mayreceive and/or request one or more pieces of information (e.g., creditscore, employment information, etc.) from the sender or receiver todetermine the sender or receiver's eligibility to participate in theprogram. In addition, the money transfer provider may charge the senderand/or receiver one or more fees to participate in the program, whichmay be a recurring or one time fee.

In embodiments where the money transfer provider determines to extend aninvitation without receiving a registration request, the decision toextend the invitation may be based on the sender and/or receiver'srapport with the money transfer provider. For example, the moneytransfer provider can evaluate the amount and frequency of the moneytransfers the sender conducts with the money transfer provider.Similarly, the money transfer provider can evaluate the frequency andregularity with which a receiver receives money transfers. The moneytransfer provider can also evaluate any issues and/or delays that areassociated with the sender or receiver's money transfers. Similarly, themoney transfer provider may evaluate the sender or receiver's loyaltystatus, such as evaluating the frequency with which a loyalty membercard is used without any issues.

Determining eligibility may also involve establishing one or more rulesthat limit the amount of funds that may be advanced during any moneytransfer and/or that may be advanced in total. For example, the rulesmay limit the amount of funds that may be advanced in any money transferto $200 and may further limit the total amount of funds that may beadvanced to $1,000. The limit may depend on the sender and/or receiver'srapport with the money transfer provider, a history of money transferswith the money transfer provider, and/or a history of money transferswhile being enrolled in a value-advance money transfer program. Thelimit may be increased or decreased based on the sender or receiver'shistory with the money transfer provider or history while registered inthe value-advance money transfer program (e.g., any past or futurevalue-advance money transfer problems).

In addition, the rules may also limit or restrict the receivers that areeligible to receive funds or may limit or restrict the senders that areable to provide funds in connection with the value-advance moneytransfer program. For example, in some embodiments, the rules may limitthe receivers that are eligible to receive funds from a sender to apredetermined group of receivers. The predetermined group of receiversmay be selected by the money transfer provider and/or the sender. Forexample, the money transfer provider may limit the group of receivers tothose receivers that regularly receive money transfers from the sender.A predetermined group of receivers may add security to the value-advancemoney transfer program because it does not allow a money transfer to bemade to anyone other than the receivers within the predetermined groupof receivers. Thus, if a sender's value-advance money transfer programinformation were stolen or otherwise misappropriated, the thief would belimited to transferring funds to one or more of the receivers in thegroup of receivers. Likewise, the receiver may be limited to receivingmoney transfers from senders that are within a predetermined group ofsenders, which may also be determined by the receiver and/or by themoney transfer provider. Similarly, the group of senders may be limiteddepending on the regularity of money transfers between the sender andreceiver.

At block 715, after the sender and/or receiver's eligibility has beendetermined, the sender and/or receiver is registered in thevalue-advance money transfer program. At block 720, an account may beestablished or created that is associated with the sender and/orreceiver. In some embodiments, the money transfer provider establishesand maintains the account. In other embodiments, the account isestablished and maintained by a credit program facilitator such as abank, credit union, etc. At block 725, an identifier may be provided tothe sender and/or receiver. The identifier may allow the sender orreceiver to access the value-advance money transfer program and therebyinitiate a value-advance money transfer and/or the identifier may belinked to the group of receivers or senders so that, upon providing theidentifier, the money transfer provider limits the sender to thepredetermined group of receivers or limits the receiver to thepredetermined group of senders. The identifier may be a separatevalue-advance money transfer program card or may be associated with aloyalty card such as being an upgrade or addition to a pre-existingloyalty card (e.g., an upgrade to a gold member card). Alternatively,the identifier may be a group of coupons provided in a coupon book sothat individual coupons may be torn off and removed from the coupon bookand provided to the money transfer provider to initiate a value-advancemoney transfer. Similarly, the identifier may be a personalidentification number chosen by the sender or receiver.

Subsequent to being registered in the value-advance money transferprogram, the sender and/or receiver may perform value-advance moneytransfer as described below.

FIG. 8 illustrates a process 800 of performing a value-advance moneytransfer according to an embodiment of the invention. The process 800occurs after a sender has been registered in a value-advance moneytransfer program such as described in reference to FIG. 7. Optionally,in some embodiments, the process 800 begins with the money transferprovider receiving one or more fund payments from the sender to coverone or more money transfers (block 830). In other embodiments, thevalue-advanced money transfer may occur without the sender providing anyfunds. If the sender does provide funds, the funds may be used inseveral ways to cover future money transfers. For example, in someembodiments, the sender pays an extra amount in each money transfer forassurance that funds will be advanced in the future when a moneytransfer is insufficiently funded (i.e., the sender pays one or twodollars more in each money transfer to pay for the value-advanceoption). In such embodiments, the sender may or may not be required torepay any advanced funds.

In another embodiment, the sender pays an excess amount in each moneytransfer, which is collected and kept in the account associated with thesender. Over time the excess payments will accumulate in the account andmay be used to cover any insufficiently funded money transfers. In suchan embodiment the sender will normally not be required to repay theadvanced funds because the funds were provided from the sender'saccumulated excess payments. Similarly, in another embodiment, multiplesenders that are registered in the value-advanced money transfer programmay pay an excess amount in each money transfer, which may be collectedand kept in a pooled account of excess payments so that any of thesenders registered in the value-advance money transfer program may drawfrom the pooled account to cover an insufficiently funded moneytransfer. Alternatively, the money transfer provider may be able to drawfrom one sender's account to fund another sender's insufficiently fundedmoney transfer. In these embodiments, the sender will normally berequired to repay the advanced funds since they are drawing from anotherparty's account.

At block 835, the money transfer provider receives a money transferrequest. The money transfer request may be received by either the senderor receiver and may be received through one of the previously describedcommunication devices such as via an agent of the money transferprovider or the Internet. At block 840, the money transfer providerdetermines if the funds in the account associated with the sender aresufficient to cover the money transfer request. If the funds aresufficient to cover the money transfer, the money transfer provider mayproceed to apply one or more rules as in block 855 without advancing anyfunds to the sender. At 845, if the funds are insufficient, the moneytransfer provider may optionally determine whether to advance funds tothe sender. The determination may be based on the amount of funds thatneeds to be advanced, how long the sender and/or receiver has beenenrolled in the value-advance money transfer program, a history of moneytransfers involving the sender and/or receiver, the frequency with whichthe sender and/or receiver has used the value-advance money transferprogram, etc.

If the money transfer provider determines not to advance any funds(e.g., the amount of necessary funds is too high, the program has beenused too frequently, etc.), the process is terminated at block 847. Ifthe money transfer provider determines to advance funds, the advancedfunds are provided to the account associated with the sender (block850). The advanced funds are made available for the sender to use intransacting the money transfer. At block 855, one or more rules mayoptionally be applied to the money transfer such as limiting theeligible receivers to the predetermined group of receivers and/orlimiting the amount of the money transfer. In addition, the moneytransfer provider may provide one or more rules that describe how thesender and/or receiver is to repay the advanced funds such as byproviding a repayment schedule. At block 860, the money transfer mayoptionally apply one or more fees and/or interest rates to the moneytransfer as payment for facilitating the value-advance money transferand/or advancing funds to the sender's account. At block 865, the moneytransfer provider executes the money transfer to transfer the funds fromthe sender's account to the receiver (e.g., receiver's bank account,check or cash at an agent location of the money transfer provider,etc.).

FIG. 9 illustrates another process 900 of performing a value-advancemoney transfer according to an embodiment of the invention. Similar toFIG. 8, the process 900 may optionally begin with the money transferprovider receiving funds from the sender (block 925). At block 930, themoney transfer provider may receive a money transfer schedule from thesender that defines how multiple money transfers are to be made over aspecified period of time (e.g., the money transfer schedule instructsthe money transfer provider to make a money transfer on the first of themonth each month for one year to one or more receivers; the moneytransfer schedule instructs the money transfer provider to make a moneytransfer on the first of the month to one receiver and a money transfermid-month to another receiver; etc.). Using a money transfer schedulemay ease the sender's burden because the sender will not be required tovisit the money transfer provider's location, either physically orremotely, each time a money transfer is made.

Similarly, in connection with the funds received at block 925, thesender may provide one or more lump sums over the specified period oftime to cover most or all of the money transfers defined in the moneytransfer schedule. In this manner, the burden to ensure that thereceiver receives the funds according to the money transfer schedule(e.g., at the beginning of each month) is shifted from the sender to themoney transfer provider. For example, the sender may provide half of allthe required funds at the beginning of the specified period of time(e.g., January 1) and then provide the other half of the required fundsaround the mid-point of the specified period of time (e.g., May 1 orJune 1). The receiver would then receive the funds according to themoney transfer schedule (e.g., at the beginning of every month) withoutthe sender being required to visit the money transfer provider'slocation and initiate each money transfer. In addition, the process canbe configured so that a portion of each or some of the sender'spaychecks is automatically routed to the money transfer provider tocover the money transfers defined in the money transfer schedule.

At block 935, the money transfer provider receives a money transferrequest. The request may be generated and received automatically by themoney transfer provider in accordance with the money transfer schedule(e.g., a program of the money transfer provider automatically generatesand sends a request when a money transfer is due) or, alternatively, therequest may be received by the sender in accordance with the moneytransfer schedule or as a new money transfer request. At block 940, themoney transfer provider determines if the funds in the accountassociated with the sender are sufficient to cover the money transferrequest. If the funds are sufficient, then the money transfer providemay proceed to apply one or more rules at block 950. If the funds arenot sufficient, the money transfer provider determines whether toadvance funds to the account associated with the sender (block 945). Inthis manner, funds may be advanced even when the sender has provided oneor more lump sums to cover the money transfers defined by the moneytransfer schedule.

For example, with reference to the example above where the senderprovides half of the required funds at the beginning of the specifiedperiod of time (e.g., January 1, the specified period of time is 1 year,and money transfers are made at the beginning of every month), thesender may not provide the other half until close to the end of thespecified period of time (e.g., October 1). In this instance, at themidpoint of the specified period of time (e.g., July 1) the moneytransfer provider would determine that the funds in the sender's accountare insufficient to cover the money transfer and would further determinewhether to advance funds to the sender's account. The same process wouldbe repeated for each money transfer until the sender provided additionalfunds to cover the money transfers or until the money transfer providerdeclined to advance funds (e.g., the process would be repeated forAugust and September). The value-advance money transfer program allowsthe money transfers to continue in accordance with the money transferschedule even though the sender has not provided sufficient funds tocover the money transfers.

If the money transfer provider determines not to advance the funds, theprocess 900 is terminated at block 947. If the money transfer providerdetermines to advance the funds, the process 900 proceeds to block 950where one or more rules may be applied to the money transfer. The rulesthat are applied may be provided by the sender with the money transferschedule and may condition the receipt of the money on the occurrence ofone or more events. For example, the sender may provide a rule thatconditions the receipt of money on the receiver complying with one ormore guidelines such as the receiver maintaining a specified GPA inschool, using the money to pay a mortgage payment, pay child support,etc. The receiver may be required to provide proof of compliance beforethe money is transferred to the receiver. In this manner, the sender maycontrol the timing of the disbursement of funds while controlling thereceiver's compliance with a set of guidelines without having to visit alocation of the money transfer provider each time a money transfer isperformed. Alternatively or additionally, the rules may condition thereceipt of money on one or more conditions unconnected to the actions ofthe receiver such as the sender securing additional employment, etc.

At block 955, the money transfer provider may apply one or more feesand/or interest rates to the money transfer. For example, the moneytransfer provider may apply a fee to each of the lump sums received fromthe sender to pay for the services associated with the money transferschedule. Additionally, the money transfer provider may apply a fee eachtime a money transfer is executed, which may pay for the value-addedmoney transfer services. Additionally, an interest rate may be appliedto the advanced funds to encourage prompt repayment. At block 960, themoney transfer is executed in accordance with the money transferschedule.

FIG. 10 illustrates another process 1000 of performing a value-addedmoney transfer according to an embodiment of the present invention. Theprocess 1000 describes a method in which one or more terms of a moneytransfer may be fixed or locked. The process 1000 may optionally beginwith the money transfer provider receiving a money transfer schedule(block 1025) as previously described with reference to FIG. 9. In anycase, the process 1000 typically begins with a money transfer schedulebeing established in which the money transfer schedule defines that aplurality of money transfers are to be made over a specified period oftime. At block 1030, the money transfer provider may provide one or moreterms associated with the money transfer schedule that fix or lock oneor more fees, interest rates, and/or other charges associated with moneytransfers so that the fees or other charges do not change over thespecified period of time.

For example, the terms may provide that the money transfer provider'sfee for each money transfer, the interest rate used for advanced funds,and/or that an exchange rate used during each money transfer will befixed over the specified period of time. For example, the money transferschedule may direct the money transfer provider to make a $200 moneytransfer on the first of each month over a year period. The terms mayprovide that a fixed fee of $5 will apply to each money transfer (12 inall), an interest rate of 5% will apply to any advanced funds, and afixed exchange rate of 1.1/1 will apply to each fund conversion toconvert the funds into the receiver's home country currency.Alternatively, the fee and/or exchange rate may vary, but the variancecould be fixed in the terms provided by the money transfer provider(e.g., the initial fee will be $15 and each fee thereafter will decreaseby $1; the interest rate for any advance funds may vary between, but notexceed, the range of 4% to 7%; the exchange rate may vary but will notexceed the range of 0.9/1 to 1.1/1; etc.). By providing fixed terms foreach money transfer in the money transfer schedule, the sender'sapproximate costs for the plurality of money transfers can be closelyestimated over the specified period of time and the sender can lock infavorable money transfer terms. In addition, when the foreign exchangerate is fixed, the risks associated with foreign exchange variabilityare passed on to the money transfer provider.

At block 1035, the money transfer provider receives an acceptance of theprovided terms from the sender. In some embodiments, the money transferprovider receives one or more payments (block 1040) to be used towardthe plurality of money transfers defined in the money transfer scheduleor toward paying any fees and/or other charges. In other embodiments,funds may be advanced to the sender's account to fund a money transferas previously described. At block 1045, a money transfer is executed inaccordance with the money transfer schedule and in accordance with theone or more agreed upon terms.

FIG. 11 illustrates a process 1100 of performing a value-advance moneytransfer in which the receiver provides the money transfer request andin which another party, such as the sender, may be obligated to repayfunds that were advanced to pay the receiver. At block 1125, the processbegins with the money transfer provider receiving a money transferrequest from the receiver. The request may specify one or more accountsfrom which the receiver desires to receive funds. For example, therequest may provide that the funds are to be received from two senders'accounts, from the receiver's account and a sender's account, or therequest may provide that a certain amount of funds are desired, in whichcase funds are drawn from one or more accounts selected by the moneytransfer provider (e.g., funds are drawn from the receiver's accountfirst and then from one or more senders' accounts if the receiver'saccount is not sufficiently funded). At block 1130, a determination ismade whether the specified account has sufficient funds to cover themoney transfer request.

If the funds are sufficient, one or more rules can be applied to themoney transfer at block 1145. If the funds are not sufficient, adetermination is made whether to provide funds to the specified account(block 1135). Since the receiver is both requesting the funds andspecifying an account to which funds may need to be advanced, thereceiver, in essence, is selecting which party will be obligated torepay the advanced funds (e.g., designating the sender to repay thefunds). As such, the determination made at block 1135 may take intoaccount the willingness of the obligated party (e.g., the sender) totake on the obligation. As part of the determination, the money transferprovider may evaluate a money transfer history between the sender andthe receiver and further evaluate whether the sender and/or receiverhave engaged in any value-advance money transfers previously. Forexample, if the sender has regularly and repeatedly performed moneytransfers with the sender in the past (e.g., once a month for more thanone year, etc.), the money transfer provider may be more willing toadvance funds to the sender's account to fund the receiver's requestthan if the sender and receiver have engaged in occasional and sporadicmoney transfers (e.g., one money transfer in the last five years).

In addition, an agreement may exist between any or all of the sender,the receiver, and the money transfer provider regarding value-advancemoney transfers (e.g., the money transfer schedule) that the moneytransfer provider may use to determine if the sender is willing to beobligated for the advanced funds. In such an embodiment, the moneytransfer provider is nearly assured that future funds will betransferred from the sender to the receiver and the money transferprovider will essentially be advancing funds to the receiver ahead ofschedule (i.e., advancing funds that are defined in the money transferschedule ahead of the scheduled dates). The agreement (e.g., the moneytransfer schedule) may include one or more rules regarding how the moneyis to be repaid to the money transfer provider. For example, the rulesmay direct that, after a fixed amount of time, the receiver must providefunds to repay any or all of the advanced funds (e.g., after 3 monthsthe receiver must pay half of the advanced funds; after 3 months fundsare drawn from the receiver's account 1140 b and applied to the sender'saccount 1140 a) or the rules may direct the money transfer provider towithhold a certain percentage of the funds from the sender's futuremoney transfers to the receiver to repay the advanced funds. Inaddition, the receiver may also provide one or more rules that directhow the funds are paid back. For example, the receiver may direct thatafter a specified period of time, the sender's account is repaid theadvanced funds from the account of an additional sender that isassociated with the receiver (e.g., sender A's account is credited withfunds drawn from either or both of sender B's and sender C's account torepay the advanced funds). In addition, the receiver and/or the sendermay direct the money transfer provider to withhold a portion orpercentage of funds transferred to the receiver from multiple senders torepay the advanced funds (e.g., withhold 5% of all funds transferred tothe receiver from any sender). The previous description describesseveral ways in which funds may be transferred between a variety ofaccounts to repay the advanced funds, although a variety ofpossibilities exist for using the rules to repay the advanced funds inaccordance with the present invention.

At block 1135, if the determination is made not to advance the funds tothe specified account, the process ends (not shown). If thedetermination is made to advance the funds, the money transfer providermay draw the funds from either or both of the sender(s)'s account and/orfrom the receiver's account in accordance with the transfer request. Atblock 1145, one or more rules may be applied to the money transfer suchas described above. At block 1150, one or more fees may be applied tothe money transfer and the money transfer may be executed at block 1155to provide the requested funds to the receiver. In addition, at block1160, funds may be drawn from one or more other accounts to repay theadvanced funds as previously described.

FIG. 12 illustrates a process 1200 of advancing funds to a receiver inwhich the sender may not participate in a value-advance money transferprogram. The process 1200 may begin with the money transfer providerreceiving a request from the receiver to provide funds to the receiver(block 1230) as discussed with reference to FIG. 11. One of thedifferences between process 1100 and process 1200 is that the sender isnot registered in the value-advance money transfer program and,therefore, the sender will not be obligated to repay the advanced funds.Rather, the funds are advanced to the receiver or the receiver's accountand the receiver is obligated to repay the funds. At block 1235 themoney transfer provider determines to provide funds to the receiver. Thedetermination to provide funds may be based on a history of moneytransfer between one or more senders and the receiver. For example, oneor more sender may regularly and repeatedly transfer money to thereceiver via the money transfer provider (e.g., sender A transfers fundsto receiver B every month for over one year; sender B transfers fundsevery other month to receiver B for the last eight months, etc.). Due tothe history of money transfers between the one or more senders and thereceiver, the money transfer provider may have confidence thatsubsequent money transfers will occur and, hence, have confidence inadvancing funds because of the high likelihood that the receiver willreceive enough funds from future money transfers to repay the advancedfunds.

At block 1240, the money transfer provider may receive one or moreinstruction from the receiver instructing the money transfer provider towithhold a portion or percentage of funds from future money transfers torepay the advanced funds. For example, along with the request, thereceiver may provide an instruction to the money transfer provider towithhold $10 from every money transfer from sender A and/or to withhold$5 from every money transfer from sender B until the advanced funds arerepaid. The instruction may be associated with a money transfer scheduleprovided by the sender so that the receiver and/or money transferprovider can determine approximately how much funds to withhold from aspecified number of money transfers and approximately when the advancedfunds will be repaid. Further, the instructions from the receiver maydirect the money transfer provider to withhold a portion or percentageof funds from future money transfers that the receiver will perform totransfer funds to other receivers (i.e., withhold funds when thereceiver is participating as a sender).

At block 1245, the money transfer provider receives funds form thesender specified in the receiver's instruction. At block 1250, the moneytransfer provider withholds a percentage or portion of the fundsaccording to the receiver's instructions and, at block 1255, the moneytransfer provider applies the withheld funds to repay all or a portionof the advanced funds.

FIG. 13 illustrates a process 1300 for providing a credit indicatorbased on a money transfer pattern or performance. The transfer creditindicator may be used by the money transfer provider and/or any otherentity for a variety of purposes including: extending credit, marketing,cross selling other products and services, etc. The process 1300 maybegin at block 1330 with the money transfer provider receiving a moneytransfer schedule. The money transfer schedule may define a plurality ofmoney transfers to be made over a specified period of time (e.g.,transfer $100 to receiver A every month for the next two years; transfer$50 to receiver B every two weeks for the next 5 months, etc.). Further,the money transfer schedule may be associated with or otherwiseconnected to a bill payment so that the money transfer schedule definesthat at least one of the plurality of money transfers is to pay a bill(e.g., transfer the amount defined in my monthly electric bill to theelectric company).

At block 1335, the money transfer provider receives one or more paymentsover the specified period of time to cover the plurality of payments.For example, the sender may provide $100 every two weeks, $300 everyother month, $25 per paycheck, etc., to cover the plurality of moneytransfers. Similarly, the money transfer schedule may include a paymentschedule that defines the time periods when the sender will providefunds and/or the amount of funds that the sender will provide to coverthe plurality of money transfers. For example, the payments schedule maydefine that the sender will provide $100 every two weeks, $300 everyother month, $25 per paycheck, etc., to cover the plurality of moneytransfers.

At block 1340, the money transfer provider evaluates the sender'sperformance in providing funds over the specified period of time tocover the plurality of money transfers. For example, the money transferprovider may evaluate whether the sender is late in providing any of thefunds, how close to the schedule money transfer date the funds areprovided, whether any of the money transfers were insufficiently funded,what was the source of funds (e.g., job, credit card, etc.), how big thesender's money transfer obligation is and how well they have met theobligation, etc. Further, the payment schedule that defines when thesender is to provide funds and/or the amount of funds that are to beprovided may be compared against the sender's actual fundingperformance. The sender's performance in paying one or more bills viathe money transfer provider may also be evaluated.

At blocks 1345 and 1350, the money transfer provider may determine atransfer credit indicator and assign the transfer credit indicator basedon the evaluation. The transfer credit indicator may be any type ofindicator such as any or a combination of numbers, letters, statuslevels (e.g., gold member, platinum member, etc.), loyalty cardupgrades, etc. With the credit indicator, the system can have theability to seize portions of any remitted funds by the money transfernetwork to replenish extended credit or as a precautionary measure ifthe indicator is very low. At block 1355, the money transfer providermay optionally provide credit to the sender based on the transfer creditindicator. Additionally or alternatively, the money transfer providermay extend an invitation to register in the value-advance money transferprogram as previously described based on the transfer credit indicator.The money transfer provider may also share the transfer credit indicatorwith other entities, such as banking entities, so that those entitiesmay extend credit and/or offer goods or services to the sender based onthe transfer credit indicator. In this manner, unbanked consumers whoregularly perform money transfers, and who otherwise may have adifficult time obtaining and building credit, can attain a creditindicator based on their money transfer performances. Likewise, entitiesthat desire to extend credit (e.g., credit card companies, etc.) may usethe money transfer provider's transfer credit indicator to developfinancial confidence in a consumer and thereby extend credit to theconsumer. In essence, the transfer credit indicator may be a measure ofthe money transfer provider's trust or confidence in a consumer that maybe shared with other entities to facilitate the other entities indeveloping trust or confidence in the consumer based on the moneytransfer provider's trust or confidence.

FIG. 14 illustrates another process 1400 for providing a creditindicator based on a money transfer pattern or performance. The process1400 is similar to process 1300 except that process 1400 may alsoevaluate the sender's performance in repaying any advanced funds. Theprocess 1400 may optionally begin at block 1430 with the money transferprovider receiving a money transfer schedule from the sender aspreviously described. At block 1435, the money transfer providerreceives one or more payments over a specified period of time to coverone or more money transfers over that period of time. At block 1440, themoney transfer provider advances funds to an account associated with thesender to fund one or more money transfers. In some embodiments, theneed to advance funds may be predetermined based on the money transferschedule. For example, the money transfer schedule may define that$1,000 is to be transferred to receiver A over the next 6 months ofwhich the sender is to provide $800, leaving a remainder of $200 to beadvanced by the money transfer provider. In other embodiments, the needto advance funds may be determined at the time the money transfer is tobe executed such as when any money transfer is insufficiently funded orthe sender may request that funds be advanced to cover one or more moneytransfers.

At block 1445, the sender's performance in repaying the advanced fundsand/or in providing funds for the one or more money transfers isevaluated. For example, evaluating the sender's repayment of theadvanced funds may include any one or a combination of evaluatingwhether the sender pays a monthly bill for the advanced funds, howquickly the advanced funds are repaid when a portion or percentage offuture money transfers is withheld, how quickly the advanced funds arerepaid when repayment is based on a portion or percentage of funds ofmoney transfers in which the sender acts as a receiver, the repayment ofinterest corresponding to the advanced funds, etc. Further, therepayment of the advanced funds may be defined in the money transferschedule, which may be used in the evaluation process to compare againstthe sender's actual performance. Evaluating the sender's performance inproviding funds for the one or more money transfer may be done aspreviously described in FIG. 13.

At blocks 1450 and 1455, the money transfer provider may determine atransfer credit indicator and assign the transfer credit indicator basedon the evaluation. The transfer credit indicator may be any type ofindicator such as one or more or a combination of numbers, letters,status levels (e.g., gold member, platinum member, etc.), loyalty cardupgrades, etc. At block 1460, the money transfer provider may optionallyprovide credit to the sender based on the transfer credit indicator.Additionally or alternatively, the money transfer provider may extend aninvitation to register in the value-advance money transfer programand/or provide the transfer credit indicator to other entities aspreviously described.

In the foregoing description, for the purposes of illustration, methodswere described in a particular order. It should be appreciated that inalternate embodiments, the methods may be performed in a different orderthan that described. It should also be appreciated that the methodsdescribed above may be performed by hardware components or may beembodied in sequences of machine-executable instructions, which may beused to cause a machine, such as a general-purpose or special-purposeprocessor or logic circuits programmed with the instructions, to performthe methods. These machine-executable instructions may be stored on oneor more machine-readable mediums, such as CD-ROMs or other type ofoptical disks, floppy diskettes, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magneticor optical cards, flash memory, or other types of machine-readablemediums suitable for storing electronic instructions. Alternatively, themethods may be performed by a combination of hardware and software.

While illustrative and presently preferred embodiments of the inventionhave been described in detail herein, it is to be understood that theinventive concepts may be otherwise variously embodied and employed, andthat the appended claims are intended to be construed to include suchvariations, except as limited by the prior art.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: registering a sender accountassociated with a security program; receiving a request to conduct anelectronic transfer, the request being associated with the senderaccount and the security program; receiving a digital identifierassociated with the sender account; querying, based at least on thedigital identifier, a rules database to identify one or more receiveraccounts associated with the sender account, wherein the one or morereceiver accounts are authorized to receive an electronic transfer fromthe sender account; determining, based on the request to conduct theelectronic transfer that the sender account has insufficient resourcesto facilitate the electronic transfer; causing funds resourcesassociated with a first system to be made available to cover at least aportion of the electronic transfer receiving a receiver identifierassociated with the security program; comparing the receiver identifierto the identified one or more receiver accounts to determine that thereceiver identifier is associated with the identified one or morereceiver accounts; and executing, via the security program, theelectronic transfer to an account associated with the receiveridentifier.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method furthercomprises: determining that the sender account is eligible to receivethe resources based at least in part on an evaluation of a request fromthe sender account and a history of electronic transfers associated withthe security program.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the methodfurther comprises: receiving, by the first system, a fee associated withthe sender account; receiving, by the first system, a credit scoreassociated with the sender account; and receiving, by the first system,a loyalty member status associated with the sender account.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: receiving, fromthe rules database, one or more rules that limit an amount of resourcesthat are made available to the sender account.
 5. The method of claim 4,wherein the one or more rules comprise: a rule limiting an amount of asingle advance; and/or a rule limiting a total amount of multipleadvances.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more rulescomprises: a rule limiting eligible receiver accounts.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the electronic transfer is an electronic moneytransfer.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the electronictransfer comprises: causing funds to be transferred from the firstsystem to control of the account associated with receiver identifier;and causing funds to be transferred from the sender account to the firstsystem.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the electronictransfer comprises: causing funds to be transferred from the senderaccount to control of the account associated with the receiveridentifier.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the account associatedwith the receiver identifier is money transfer has a destination that isselected from a group consisting of: a bank account; a credit cardaccount; a prepaid account a check; cash; air miles; and a giftcertificate.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the method furthercomprises: determining one or more rules that limit a manner in whichfunds from the sender account are received to repay the electronictransfer conducted via the resources associated with the first system;receiving funds to repay the electronic transfer; and determiningwhether the funds to repay the electronic transfer comply with the oneor more rules.
 12. A non-transitory machine readable medium havinginstructions stored thereon, the instructions executable by one or moreprocessors for at least: registering a sender account associated with asecurity program; receiving a request to conduct an electronic transfer,the request being associated with the sender account and the securityprogram; receiving a digital identifier associated with the senderaccount; querying, based at least on the digital identifier, a rulesdatabase to identify one or more receiver accounts associated with thesender account, wherein the one or more receiver accounts are authorizedto receive an electronic transfer from the sender account; determining,based on the request to conduct the electronic transfer, that the senderaccount has insufficient resources to facilitate the electronictransfer; causing resources associated with a first system to be madeavailable to cover at least a portion of the electronic receiving areceiver identifier associated with the security program; comparing thereceiver identifier to the identified one or more receiver accounts todetermine that the receiver identifier is associated with the identifiedone or more receiver accounts; and executing, via the security program,the electronic transfer to an account associated with the receiveridentifier.
 13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12,wherein the instructions are further executable for at least:determining that the sender account is eligible to receive the resourcesbased at least in part on an evaluation of a request from the senderaccount and a history of electronic transfers associated with thesecurity program.
 14. The non-transitory machine readable medium ofclaim 12, wherein the instructions are further executable for at least:receiving, from the rules database, one or more rules that limit anamount of resources that are made available to the sender account. 15.The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein theelectronic transfer is an electronic money transfer.
 16. Thenon-transitory machine readable medium of claim 12, wherein executingthe electronic transfer comprises: causing funds to be transferred fromthe sender account to control of the account associated with thereceiver identifier.
 17. A system comprising: one or more processors;and a memory coupled with the one or more processors, the memoryconfigured to store instructions that, when executed by the one or moreprocessors, cause the one or more processors to: register a senderaccount associated with a security program; receive a request to conductan electronic transfer, the request being associated with the senderaccount and the security program; receive a digital identifierassociated with the sender account; query, based at least on the digitalidentifier, a rules database to identify one or more receiver accountsassociated with the sender account, wherein the one or more receiveraccounts are authorized to receive an electronic transfer from thesender account; determine, based on the request to conduct theelectronic transfer, that the sender account has insufficient resourcesto facilitate the electronic transfer; cause resources associated with afirst system to be made available to cover at least a portion of theelectronic transfer receive a receiver identifier associated with thesecurity program; compare the receiver identifier to the identified oneor more receiver accounts to determine that the receiver identifier isassociated with the identified one or more receiver accounts; andexecute, via the security program, electronic transfer to an accountassociated with the receiver identifier.
 18. The system of claim 17,wherein the instructions that when executed by the one or moreprocessors further cause the one or more processors to: determine thatthe sender account is eligible to receive the resources based at leastin part on an evaluation of a request from the sender account and ahistory of electronic transfers associated with the security program.19. The system of claim 17, wherein the instructions that when executedby the one or more processors further cause the one or more processorsto: receive, from the rules database, one or more rules that limit anamount of resources that are made available to the sender account. 20.The system of claim 17, wherein the electronic transfer is an electronicmoney transfer.
 21. The system of claim 17, wherein the instructionsthat when executed by the one or more processors further cause the oneor more processors to: cause funds to be transferred from the senderaccount to control of account associated with the receiver identifier.